Lee Kuan Yew's will: Lee Suet Fern suspended 15 months by disciplinary body
Nicholas Yong
·Assistant News Editor
Fri, 20 November 2020, 11:38 am SGT
Corporate lawyer Lee Suet Fern says she supports her husband Lee Hsien Yang's move to join the Progress Singapore Party. (PHOTO: Dhany Osman / Yahoo News Singapore)
SINGAPORE — The Court of Three Judges has handed out a 15-month suspension to corporate lawyer Lee Suet Fern for her role in the handling of the late Lee Kuan Yew’s final will, after rejecting her appeal against a Disciplinary Tribunal’s (DT) verdict.
In a written judgment on Friday (20 November), the highest disciplinary body that deals with lawyers' misconduct concluded that there was no implied retainer between her and the late Lee, and that she had not acted dishonestly in her dealings with him.
Nevertheless, the Court of Three Judges said that her culpability in the matter was “at least moderately high”, as the late Lee “ended up signing a document which was in fact not that which he had indicated he wished to sign”.
It added, “The fact that the Last Will and the First Will were materially similar was fortuitous, and does not discount the fact that the potential harm could have been far more severe than the actual harm that eventuated.”
Accordingly, it suspended Suet Fern from practice for 15 months.
Suet Fern is married to Lee Kuan Yew’s youngest child Lee Hsien Yang. She is the sister-in-law of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
In a WhatsApp response to Yahoo News Singapore’s queries, Suet Fern said, “I disagree with this decision. There was no basis for this case to have even been initiated.”
She noted that the Court of Three found “no solicitor-client relationship existed” between her and the late Lee, and that the will had not been procured by “fraud or undue influence”. Furthermore, no complaint had ever been lodged by her father-in-law, nor by any of his beneficiaries or his personal lawyer for his various wills, Kwa Kim Li.
“This case arose from a complaint years later by the Attorney-General’s Chambers. Lee Hsien Loong made extensive submissions, but did not present himself as a witness and was not subject to cross-examination,” Suet Fern noted.
Background to the case
In February, Suet Fern, 61, was censured by a two-man DT for grossly improper professional conduct in her handling of the will in 2013. The DT was convened in January 2019.
It called Suet Fern a “deceitful witness, who tailored her evidence to portray herself as an innocent victim who had been maligned”. The tribunal added that the conduct of Hsien Yang, who testified as a witness, was “equally deceitful”.
Suet Fern then lodged an appeal against the verdict, with her lawyers claiming that the DT had “cherry-picked” evidence in arriving at its conclusions. They added that Suet Fern merely played an “administrative role” in facilitating her father-in-law’s wishes.
It is the latest twist in the long-running Lee saga, which first erupted in June 2017 when Hsien Yang and his sister Wei Ling, 65, went public with their dispute over the fate of the old family home at 38 Oxley Road, accusing their older brother Hsien Loong, 68, of abusing the organs of state for his own benefit.
MORE DETAILS TO COME ...
Nicholas Yong
·Assistant News Editor
Fri, 20 November 2020, 11:38 am SGT
Corporate lawyer Lee Suet Fern says she supports her husband Lee Hsien Yang's move to join the Progress Singapore Party. (PHOTO: Dhany Osman / Yahoo News Singapore)
SINGAPORE — The Court of Three Judges has handed out a 15-month suspension to corporate lawyer Lee Suet Fern for her role in the handling of the late Lee Kuan Yew’s final will, after rejecting her appeal against a Disciplinary Tribunal’s (DT) verdict.
In a written judgment on Friday (20 November), the highest disciplinary body that deals with lawyers' misconduct concluded that there was no implied retainer between her and the late Lee, and that she had not acted dishonestly in her dealings with him.
Nevertheless, the Court of Three Judges said that her culpability in the matter was “at least moderately high”, as the late Lee “ended up signing a document which was in fact not that which he had indicated he wished to sign”.
It added, “The fact that the Last Will and the First Will were materially similar was fortuitous, and does not discount the fact that the potential harm could have been far more severe than the actual harm that eventuated.”
Accordingly, it suspended Suet Fern from practice for 15 months.
Suet Fern is married to Lee Kuan Yew’s youngest child Lee Hsien Yang. She is the sister-in-law of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
In a WhatsApp response to Yahoo News Singapore’s queries, Suet Fern said, “I disagree with this decision. There was no basis for this case to have even been initiated.”
She noted that the Court of Three found “no solicitor-client relationship existed” between her and the late Lee, and that the will had not been procured by “fraud or undue influence”. Furthermore, no complaint had ever been lodged by her father-in-law, nor by any of his beneficiaries or his personal lawyer for his various wills, Kwa Kim Li.
“This case arose from a complaint years later by the Attorney-General’s Chambers. Lee Hsien Loong made extensive submissions, but did not present himself as a witness and was not subject to cross-examination,” Suet Fern noted.
Background to the case
In February, Suet Fern, 61, was censured by a two-man DT for grossly improper professional conduct in her handling of the will in 2013. The DT was convened in January 2019.
It called Suet Fern a “deceitful witness, who tailored her evidence to portray herself as an innocent victim who had been maligned”. The tribunal added that the conduct of Hsien Yang, who testified as a witness, was “equally deceitful”.
Suet Fern then lodged an appeal against the verdict, with her lawyers claiming that the DT had “cherry-picked” evidence in arriving at its conclusions. They added that Suet Fern merely played an “administrative role” in facilitating her father-in-law’s wishes.
It is the latest twist in the long-running Lee saga, which first erupted in June 2017 when Hsien Yang and his sister Wei Ling, 65, went public with their dispute over the fate of the old family home at 38 Oxley Road, accusing their older brother Hsien Loong, 68, of abusing the organs of state for his own benefit.
MORE DETAILS TO COME ...
